‘Suits’ Season 4 Premiere Review: Power Struggle

The fourth season of Suits kicked off tonight with some major changes to the familiar dynamic, picking up three months after Mike left Pearson Specter to try his hand at investment banking. Going from being Harvey’s protégé and right hand man to becoming his client was bound to shake things up, but in some ways, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

“One-Two-Three Go” began by giving viewers a glimpse of how some of our favorite characters like to spend their mornings (hint: naked and with other extremely good-looking people). While the eye candy was definitely appreciated, the purpose of the scene was most likely to remind us how certain things played out in the finale: Harvey and Scottie ended their relationship, which is why Harvey has a new woman in his bed, Rachel is splitting her time between Columbia and working at the firm and Mike has a new job to get to while Jessica’s situation is left purposely unclear.

There’s also the matter of the SEC investigating them after Harvey made an enemy while trying to protect Mike. Louis and Katrina know that it’s only a matter of time before there’s an issue and Louis is the man to handle the job. Katrina has so much confidence in him that she believes that Jessica will make him a named partner once he saves the day. Unfortunately for Louis, he gets a little too distracted by the future prospects and combined with some bad advice from Harvey – he might have already missed his chance.

While I’m not too keen on another season of Louis never winning anything, I want to see how this one plays out. I do enjoy the Louis/Katrina power hungry dynamic and I love that Harvey and Donna are both treating Louis more like he’s part of the team and not just a thorn in their sides. Harvey going to Louis for a quick consult was awesome too because they finally feel like friends and I approve of this.

But the reason Louis might already have lost and the reason Jessica’s morning meeting situation was presented as unclear are one in the same. Jeff Malone arrives at Pearson Specter to talk to Jessica and Harvey about a job – he believes he can be the one to help them beat their upcoming SEC battle because he’s currently working there and that’s why he needs a decision immediately. Harvey is onboard, but Jessica is hesitant. She doesn’t like to be pushed into anything, but it’s more than that. Jeff is the mystery man whose apartment she was sneaking out of in the opening scene.

This was an interesting dilemma for Jessica because she does not want to mix business with pleasure and knew that she had a choice to make. Once she started leaning toward hiring Jeff, she also decided to come clean with Harvey about their relationship. I’m a big fan of the Jessica/Harvey dynamic and the scene in his apartment was perfection. There’s always an underlying sexual tension between these two (that should never, ever be acted on) and it added another layer to this interaction that Harvey is all too familiar with because of what happened with Scottie.

Jessica made the decision to hire Jeff, but first she wanted one more night together. He didn’t seem to think that it had to be the end and I think we all know it’s not. This is another story that has some great potential. I’m not looking forward to seeing Jeff and Louis pitted against one another (Team Louis), but I am in favor of how much the show is already shaking up the dynamics of the firm this season. I want to see where this goes.

Now let’s talk about Mike. He’s not quite the big man on campus that he thought he was going to be, even if he does have his own office and snarky personal assistant. He’s also got a boss who is not impressed with him and sorry, show, but we’re going to have to deduct some points here for the poor imitations of Harvey and Donna. This was unnecessary. On the other hand, it led to a fantastically fun scene where Mike tried to say his new assistant was better than Donna and she warned him to run. But Donna would still have been flawless because she’s Donna so I’m just going to roll my eyes and move on from the copycat office situation.

Mike has an idea on how to impress his boss and he goes to share it with Harvey, only for Harvey to tell him it’s terrible. Mike reminds Harvey that he works for him now and he needs to support him. Harvey doesn’t play that game and not only does he blow Mike off, but he uses Rachel to send the message (Harvey gives her the night off because there’s no work to be done because Mike is not important enough to do work for is the gist of it). How does Mike respond to that? He shows up on Harvey’s doorstep and tells him that he’s going to have to fight for his business and he’s putting Pearson Specter in review while he courts other lawyers.

And this is the part of the episode where I started to get frustrated. I’m always going to be Team Harvey so call me biased if you want to, but it drives me crazy that Mike doesn’t listen to him. To be fair, I know Harvey is overly arrogant too, but the difference is that he’s had years of experience and no matter how smart Mike is, he’s still new at all of this. Both men talk over each other instead of to each other and it becomes something of a competition that really has no winner, especially the audience. We’re in season four now and these characters are still hitting the exact same beat: Harvey says no, Mike does it anyway, Harvey gets mad, Mike gets mad, they stop talking, they’re both sad and angry without the other…eventually they find their way back to each other and solve the problem together. Sigh…

Anyway, the current problem is that Harvey has another client, Logan Sanders, who is interested in the same investment as Mike. Since Mike had the idea first, Harvey should get to side with him, but since Mike put them into review, Harvey needs to drop Mike (I don’t really understand this concept because I never went to law school, but the show says that’s how it is so let’s just roll with it). If Harvey had listened to Donna (always listen to Donna!) and not pushed Mike, this wouldn’t have happened, but also if Mike hadn’t been so quick to show Harvey that he had the power, they wouldn’t be in this mess either. Maybe someone should just knock their heads together.

Mike and Harvey are once again on opposite sides and there’s already a lot of tension between them, even if things are still civil for now. But I’m guessing that’s not going to last long and it makes me sad because I’m sure the writers are capable of coming up with other conflicts that don’t ruin the show’s central bromance. I’ll keep an open mind though because at least they’re trying to do things differently by giving Mike a job outside of Pearson Specter so let’s just sit back and see where this goes.

Before we wrap up, let’s talk about Rachel. Harvey put her in an awkward position and she wasn’t happy, but not just because she doesn’t appreciate being a pawn. Rachel loves Mike, but her loyalties are to her firm and she’s more than okay with working against him. Rachel won some points with me there (although she’s been moving up on my list for a while now so this is just more of the same). However, that wasn’t the only surprise. Remember when Rachel told Mike that she once had an affair with a married man? It turns out that married man was Logan Sanders. I did not see that coming, but I definitely approve of this twist. There’s so much potential story here.

So there you have it. Overall, this was a solid episode and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I like how many story possibilities are floating around and I’m looking forward to seeing where the writers go next. I’m less enthused about Harvey and Mike being on opposite sides because they can’t keep their egos in check, but maybe this will play out differently than the scenario has in the past. We shall see.

Now it’s your turn: did you enjoy the premiere? How do you feel about Harvey and Mike fighting again? What do you think of Jessica’s new love interest? Do you want Louis to come out the winner? Were you surprised that Logan is the man Rachel had an affair with? Did Donna get even more fabulous? Hit the comments below and share your thoughts and theories with us!

About the author

Mandy Treccia

Mandy Treccia has served as TVSource Magazine’s Executive Editor since 2016, formerly as Editorial Director from 2012-2016. She is an avid TV watcher and card carrying fan girl prone to sudden bursts of emotion, ranging from extreme excitement to blind rage during her favorite shows and has on more than once occasion considered having a paper bag on hand to get her through some tough TV moments. Her taste in TV tends to rival that of a thirteen-year-old girl, but she’s okay with that. Follow her on Twitter at @SourceMandy.